[Milsurplus] Re: Ricebox hams on WW2 warships...

[Mike Morrow]

>One other little "lesson" i learned at the U-505 tour, among several...
> 
>There were some photos, if i recall, of a cleaning the museum had done
>of under the floor grating on the sub. There were TONS of candy wrappers
>etc., TONS of detritus to be removed...

There is an extremely interesting reconstruction of the "civil war" union ironclad USS Cairo at the Vicksburg, MS, national military park, which lay submerged for about a century in the mud of the Yazoo River.  There's no radio gear, but now one can walk through the upper portion of the re-assembled hull and look down on the original boiler, engines, and auxilary equipment.  The engines, having been submerged in low-oxygen mud for about a century, are in amazing condition and have ASME historical recognition as the only surviving examples of that type.  That didn't stop some tobacco-chewing redneck jerk from spitting a mouthful of chew and juice on top of an engine casing as he walked by, last time I visited.  The public is an ass.

An even worse situation is seen when one walks through a military cemetery and observes the cigarette butts, candy and gum wrappers, etc. that have been tossed on the ground.  Cigarette butts especially.  A lot of people have no sense of respect or decency.

Mike / KK5F